One in four retail sales delivered by media are driven by print ads and every €1 spent on press ads returns as much as €39 to retailers. The medium is 1.5 times more effective than radio in delivering return on investment, research for Independent News & Media (INM) claims. Every €1 spent on print ads returns up to €8.10 for finance companies, the study indicates.

The Book of Evidence findings were presented by INM at a breakfast briefing for agencies.

The first 12 months of INM’s Customer Research Survey (CRS) included Amárach Research doing 13,000 face-to-face random interviews with buyers of 30 daily titles and 50 weekend titles in store. The study is said to be the biggest continuous survey of newspaper buying in Ireland and the UK. Is a newspaper still relevant? CRS gives a 83 per cent positive response.

The average buyer spends 66 minutes with a daily newspaper. The Irish Independent scored 70 minutes and the Sunday Independent 101 minutes. Nine in 10 consumers have an emotional attachment to newspaper supplements and eight out of 10 believe they offer value for money. INM also commissioned Ignite Research to carry out an econometrics study.

The research relies on three years of data and over 20 million data points.

INM has confirmed acquiring the remaining 50 per cent of CarsIreland.ie for an undisclosed fee. Launched in 2004, the website has nearly 1,000 dealers advertising 40,000 used, new and classic cars for sale each month. Earlier this year, INM bought four magazines from Belfast publisher Greer Publications – again for an undisclosed sum.

The Greer titles are Ulster Business, Ulster Grocer, Hospitality Review NI and consumer fashion magazine, Northern Woman. INM is Ireland’s largest media company, with Communicorp boss Denis O’Brien as its major shareholder. Group titles reach 2.4 million readers weekly. It manages gross assets of €187.6m and employs about 900 people.

Pictured in the Marker are Robert Pitt, INM, Alan Cox, Core Media and Mairead Kearns, INM

Maria Scannell from Mirror Media Ireland (MMI) was awarded Trinity Mirror’s UK & Ireland Commercial Manager of the Year 2015 at a ceremony in Manchester last week. The awards were hosted by comedian and TV presenter Jason Manford. It is the second year in a row Scannell has won the highly-regarded honour. The Trinity Mirror group has over 4,500 staff across 240 national and regional newspapers and 200 publisher websites.

The company’s restructure saw the launch of a digital-led, integrated newsroom, with a reported 90 million unique users every month across the group. James Wildman, Trinity Mirror’s chief revenue officer and former managing director of Yahoo, said Scannell “blew the judges’ socks off” with her energy, professionalism and business results. Before joining MMI, she was with Starcom and Independent News & Media (INM).

Dublin commuter freesheet Metro Herald will cease publication from this Friday. The board of Fortunegreen, which is equally owned by Independent News & Media (INM), DMG Ireland Holdings, which publishes the Irish Daily Mail, and The Irish Times, said the publication’s business model had become “unsustainable in a difficult advertising model”. The move results in the loss of 13 full-time jobs and its team of casually-employed distributors.

Fortunegreen managing director Paul Crosbie said Metro Herald had been “fighting a rearguard action” as a result of the prolonged recession and changes in the media industry. The freesheet was launched in 2010 after Metro and Herald AM merged. Metro was first launched in pre-recession 2005 with the aim of targeting commuters and following the success of the Metro International city newspapers across Europe.

Fortunegreen ended 2103 with accumulated losses of almost €15.5 million.

The Printed Image (TPI) have won the race to become Paddy Power’s official Irish print supplier. The contract covers retail point of sale (POS) displays, marketing collateral and miscellaneous customer communications. Established in 1990, TPI is run by CEO Colin Culliton. Specialists in marketing print, design and promotional products, TPI employs 110 people in Fonthill in West Dublin. Other TPI clients include Coca-Cola, Bulmers, Irish Life, Mondelez, PTSB and GSK. Paddy Power is known for its offbeat and often controversial ads.

Dublin Gazette Newspapers, publisher of free newspapers in the greater Dublin area, is to launch a city edition for the city centre and the capital’s bordering suburbs next month. DGN group editor Mimi Murray says the aim is to make the new Dublin City Gazette the focus of its seven weekly titles. Murray says it will increase the group’s total weekly in-store circulation from 41,000 to 60,000 and bring readership to 210,000.

As from next month, DGN will report to ABC on a monthly basis. The new title will cover all the main shopping streets in the city centre, including Henry Street, Grafton Street and O’Connell Street, as well as suburbs from Sandymount and Rathgar on the southside to Coolock and Finglas on the northside. Last September, the High Court approved the examiner’s recommendation that DGN should be allowed continue to trade.

DGN previously published eight free newspapers in Dublin, stretching from Malahide on the northside to Dun Laoghaire on the southside, with other group titles covering local news and events in the Swords, Blanchardstown, Dundrum, Castleknock, Lucan and Clondalkin areas. The High Court decision followed confirmation that as part of the rescue plan The Irish Times was no longer a shareholder in DGN.

The Times previously owned nearly two-thirds of Gazette and invested €3.5 million. When the group went into examinership last June, the Times was owed €92,000 for printing. The three remaining shareholders said they were prepared to invest €200,000 in the business and take full control of the company.

The shareholders are chartered accountant Mary Leane, Texas oil and gas businessman Tom Kelley and Michael McGovern, who worked with Saatchi & Saatchi and Doherty Advertising. DGN was first launched in March 2004. Its titles have a combined readership of 169,000 (TGI Ireland 2012).

Jim Miley, project director for Ireland’s year of The Gathering, is to join The Irish Times as commercial director. Miley was responsible for delivering all aspects of The Gathering, which was the brainchild of Fáilte Ireland’s director of market development, John Concannon. They were joint finalists in this year’s Marketer of the Year award. Miley is a former chief executive of MyHome.ie and served as Fine Gael general secretary.

He was also interim CEO at 4FM and chairman of Concern, the third world charity.

The idea of The Gathering was to harness goodwill and support from three main groups – Irish people at home, the 17 million Irish diaspora and non-Irish people worldwide who love the country – and to promote tourism by way of national and community events. The initiative kicked off with the Navy-Notre Dame American football game at the Aviva in September last year. Since then, 5,000 new events have been staged.

The High Court has approved the examiner’s recommendation that Dublin Gazette Newspapers (DGN) continues to operate. DGN publishes eight free newspapers in the greater Dublin area, stretching from Malahide on the northside to Dun Laoghaire on the southside, with other group titles covering local news and events in the Swords, Blanchardstown, Dundrum, Castleknock, Lucan and Clondalkin areas.

The High Court decision follows confirmation that as part of a rescue plan The Irish Times is no longer a shareholder in DGN. The Times previously owned nearly two-thirds of Gazette and invested €3.5 million. When the group went into examinership in June, the Times was owed €92,000 for printing. The three remaining shareholders will now invest €200,000 in the business and take full control of the company.

The three shareholders are chartered accountant Mary Leane, Texas oil and gas businessman Tom Kelley and Michael McGovern, who worked with O’Kennedy Brindley (later Saatchi & Saatchi) and Doherty Advertising. McGovern thanked the group’s staff, suppliers and customers for their support during the examinership.

DGN was launched back in March 2004. Its titles now have a combined readership of 169,000 (TGI Ireland 2012). The current ABC figures for DGN stand at 40,389 papers per week. McGovern claims that TGI figures for last year show Gazette newspapers are number three in terms of readership in Dublin and that the group has more adult readers in and around the capital than the Irish Independent and the Irish Daily Star.

]]>http://marketing.ie/gazette-exits-examinership/feed/0Irish Times' Best Places to Live shortlisted for INMAhttp://marketing.ie/irish-times-best-places-to-live-shortlisted-for-inma/
http://marketing.ie/irish-times-best-places-to-live-shortlisted-for-inma/#respondThu, 02 May 2013 16:09:14 +0000http://marketing.ie/?p=12766

The Irish Times’‘Best Place to Live campaign was among 87 news media companies worldwide shortlisted in the International News Media Association (INMA) awards. The newspaper was the only Irish title to be listed for the awards which recognise and reward excellence in marketing news media brands worldwide. The ‘Best Place to Live’ campaign was shortlisted in the new brand/product/audience development category.

The Irish Times was one of only three finalists in the UK and Ireland to be nominated.

The Best Place to Live campaign was developed by marketing manager Kate Molony (above) as a platform to celebrate communities. In addition, it provided an additional channel in which the brand could interact with their readers. The newspaper invited the public to nominate their favourite place – be it a town or city suburb, a tiny village or remote rural spot. After much campaigning, the judging panel chose Westport in Co Mayo.

A series of short videos was also produced and promoted online. The INMA awards were presented in New York on Tuesday and the best at show went to India’s Hindustan Times for its ‘You read, they learn’ idea.

Clear Channel Ireland (CCI) managing director Terry Buckley has been appointed as a non-executive director of Independent News & Media (INM). The INM board now has six members. Buckley, who took charge at CCI in 1997, is on the council of patrons of Special Olympics Ireland, which is chaired by Denis O’Brien, INM’s biggest shareholder. He was previously marketing director of Allegro and worked with Jerry Liston at United Drug.

He is a board member of the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) and a founder of Rockall Technologies collateral management software. He has an MBA from the UCD Smurfit School of Business. CCI brands include Adshel panels, More O’Ferrall billboards and the Adboxes used for newspaper deliveries when shops are closed or busy. CCI also sells space at the Aviva Stadium and Leopardstown Racecourse.

A new book about Ireland’s football captain Robbie Keane written by Irish Daily Star soccer writer Paul Lennon is on sale in book stores nationwide from today. Robbie: A Striker’s Story profiles the Tallaght-born striker who has scored 53 goals in 115 games for his country. Since his professional debut with Wolves in 1997, he has made almost 600 club appearances and scored over 200 goals. He now plays for Los Angeles Galaxy.

Keane, 32 next month, has clocked up nearly €100 million in transfer fees since joining Coventry in 1999. He has played for ten clubs, including Leeds, Liverpool, Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur. He had loan spells at Glasgow Celtic, Aston Villa and West Ham before being released by Spurs to move to Major League Soccer (MLS) in the US. He married Miss Ireland contestant Claudine Palmer in Dublin four years ago.

Author Paul Lennon, 49, is a native of Drogheda, Co Louth. A lifelong football fan he went to his first game as a seven-year-old when his home club was beaten by Limerick in the 1971 FAI Cup final after a replay. He has worked as a journalist since 1983, first with the Drogheda Local News before joining the Meath Weekender and then the Sunday Tribune. He has worked as the Star football correspondent since 1992.

Robbie: A Striker’s Story (rrp €11.99) has a foreword by former Ireland striker Niall Quinn. It is published in paperback by Independent Star’s Paperweight Publications. It was launched at a Euro 2012 preview event with Star columnists Eamon Dunphy, Ray Houghton and Pat Dolan, chaired by RTE presenter Bill O’Herlihy. Ireland play Croatia in their Euros’ opener in Poznan’s Ferenc Puskas Stadium this Sunday, kick-off 7.45pm.

A quirky use of a QR code has won Boys and Girls the NNI Press Ad of the Month for March. The ad, aptly titled Curious?, was for Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard’s Brancott Estate Australian wine. Rory Hamilton was creative director, Anne Fleming copywriter and Bairbre McGlade handled the ad’s art direction.

Media planning was by Vizeum’s Joanna Gorczak. Judges Cathal O’Flaherty of Javelin and Maxine Hands of ZenithOptimedia said they chose Curious? as it was a “nice, fun idea, well executed” and because they liked the use of a QR code. Agencies have until May 10 to send in their press ads for April.

There is much speculation as to what Denis O’Brien’s next move might be now that Independent News & Media (INM) chief operating officer Vincent Crowley (pictured left) has replaced Gavin O’Reilly (right) as group CEO. The move is seen as a way of ending O’Brien’s attempt to oust O’Reilly at the group’s AGM in June.

O’Reilly’s resignation ends a 19-year stay at INM and almost 40 years of the O’Reilly family’s control of Ireland’s biggest media group. The move coincides with an unnamed investor taking a two per cent stake in INM. It is expected O’Brien may now try to reinstate his business colleague Leslie Buckley to the board.

Buckley was voted off the INM board after advisors questioned the Corkman’s independence. O’Brien has a 22 per cent stake in the group, while the O’Reillys have 13 per cent. Financier Dermot Desmond has six per cent equity. The new anonymous investor’s two per cent stake is the equivalent of 12 million shares.

O’Brien’s representatives on the INM board, Paul Connolly and Lucy Gaffney, opposed the appointment of lawyer James Osborne as chairman, following the departure of Brian Hillery last year. Crowley, 58, is a chartered accountant who joined INM from KPMG in 1990. He supports cost-cutting measures.

Boys and Girls is the overall winner of National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) Press Ad of the Year for its ‘Kill Your Cravings’ campaign for Slimsticks weight loss products. Judge Neil Dawson, executive creative director of BETC in London, said the ads were “insightful and a fun way of addressing the issue”. The ads show a series of sugary snacks and sweets that have been ‘killed’ by Slimsticks. Copy was by Emma Cahill and Rory Hamilton and Bairbre McGlade was the art director. Media was handled by Gemma Gilmore at MediaVest.

Ogilvy won the best copywriting award for the second year in a row. This year TV3 won out for ‘Family Home’, which tells the story of a house on Henrietta Street in Dublin – “100 years ago, No 7 Henrietta Street was a family home for 13 families” . Copywriter Des Kavanagh and art director Laurence O’Byrne, whose work for the ISPCC has been widely lauded, accepted the award. Ken Nolan at Mindshare managed the media.

Following on from last year’s acclaimed Seven Signatures campaign for TG4, Publicis QMP was again honoured for its work for the Irish language TV channel winning best art direction for its Scealta Atha Cliath documentary series about one of Dublin’s most famous personages or venues. Copy was by Kris Clarkin and Neil Saul and Ger Roe was art director. Media was by Stuart Matthews and Rianne Rusthoven at MediaVest.

Irish International’s Cannabis campaign for the Road Safety Authority (RSA) won the NNI local and regional award. The ad, a “simple but alarming visual”, aims to raise the awareness of the dangers and possible consequences of driving under the influence of cannabis, the most commonly used illegal drug. Copy and art direction was shared between Dillon Elliot and Catherine Lennon. Media planning was by MediaVest.